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Icahn bought Dell shares at a discount

By Dan Primack June 18, 2013: 4:07 PM ET

Southeastern Asset Management apparently believes Carl Icahn is some sort of loss leader.

FORTUNE -- Earlier today we discussed how Carl Icahn had nearly doubled his stake in Dell Inc., by purchasing around 72 million shares from Southeastern Asset Management. And now we know the price: $13.52 per share.

Or, put another way, 13 cents per share less than what SAM could have gotten by selling those same shares to Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners, who are trying to take Dell (DELL) private for $13.65 per share. Or 21 cents per share less, once an anticipated dividend is taken into account. And well below the $24 per share that SAM claimed the company was worth back in February.

So what is the strategy over at SAM, which retained around half of its original position.

Word is that the Memphis-based investment firm believes Icahn will have an even louder bully pulpit as the company's largest outside shareholder, for the purposes of beating back the Michael Dell/Silver Lake bid. Then an Icahn-controlled Dell would easily make up that 13 cent per share difference, and then some. I guess I understand in theory, except for the part where Carl Icahn: (a) Doesn't ever have trouble getting his message out, and (b) Icahn's track record and Dell investment thesis doesn't change based on the number of shares he owns.

For Icahn, this is mostly a win-win situation. If Michael Dell/Silver Lake win the shareholder vote next month, then he pockets more than $9 million on the SAM purchase (chump change for him, but probably smooths out his cost basis a bit). If the buyout offer gets voted down, then Icahn already has a bunch of the shares he planned to buy via the original recap plan (and more leverage to get his tender offer accepted).

The only way the purchase goes south for Icahn -- at least in the short-term -- is if the buyout gets voted down and Michael Dell has a "Plan B" recap of his own that gets accepted. In that case, Icahn would be left holding over 150 million shares in a company run by someone who he thinks should be out on the street.

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Carl Icahn rearranges the Dell chairs

Activist investor isn't done with Dell.

FORTUNE -- Carl Icahn has became the largest outside shareholder in Dell Inc. (DELL), as part of his continuing effort to scuttle a $13.65 per share buyout bid from Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. He also seems to have changed his strategy.

The activist investor today announced that he has purchased around 72 million shares from Southeastern Asset Management, the mutual fund manager with whom Icahn has MORE
Dan Primack - Jun 18, 2013 2:17 PM ET
Posted in: Carl Icahn, Dell, Michael Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners
Icahn: Our Dell offer is coming soon

Rival bid for Dell coming "in the near future."

FORTUNE -- Dell Inc.'s special committee today formally recommended the $13.65 per share buyout offer from Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners, and announced that the shareholder vote will take place on July 18.

No big surprise there, given that there isn't actually another offer on the table yet. Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management -- which hold a combined stake of nearly MORE
Dan Primack - May 31, 2013 3:48 PM ET
Posted in: Carl Icahn, Dell, Jefferies, Michael Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners, Southeastern Asset Management
Exclusive: Silver Lake exec joins HP after working on Dell deal

Todd Morgenfeld has worked for 8 months on Silver Lake's buyout offer for Dell. Now he's joining the PC maker's chief rival.

FORTUNE -- Todd Morgenfeld has left private equity firm Silver Lake Partners to join Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in a senior operating role. Yes, that's just as weird as it sounds.

Morgenfeld was intimately involved in Silver Lake's $24.4 billion buyout offer for Dell Inc. (DELL), whose chief rival just happens to MORE
Dan Primack - May 30, 2013 10:54 AM ET
Posted in: Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners, Todd Morgenfeld
Can Silver Lake walk away from Dell deal?

Dell's earnings decline could have an impact on its buyout deal.

FORTUNE -- Dell Inc. this afternoon reported lower-than-expected earnings, including a stunning 9% year-over-year revenue decrease and 65% operating income decrease for the "end user computing" unit that houses PC and PC peripheral sales.

Silver Lake Partners obviously knew that the EUC business was in decline when it agreed to join forces with Michael Dell on a $24.5 billion buyout offer MORE
Dan Primack - May 16, 2013 4:14 PM ET
Posted in: Dell, MAC, Michael Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners
Is Icahn (also) low-balling Dell?

Carl Icahn may be guilty of Michael Dell's alleged sins.

FORTUNE -- Carl Icahn isn't losing to Michael Dell without a fight.

Today the activist giant offered to buy the PC maker for $12 per share, alongside fellow dissident Dell (DELL) shareholder Southeastern Asset Management. The payout could come either in cash of in the form of additional Dell stock, since this proposal would include a public equity stub.

Most of the bid would MORE
Dan Primack - May 10, 2013 10:30 AM ET
Posted in: Carl Icahn, Dell, Michael Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners, Southeastern Asset Management
Southeastern jumps the gun on Dell

Dell does not yet have any "superior offers."

FORTUNE -- Southeastern Asset Management today sent a letter to Dell's board of directors, again expressing its opposition to the proposed $13.65 per share buyout by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. And again it was worth reading, if for no other reason than that SAM is Dell's (DELL) largest outside shareholder.

Here was the new part that caught my eye:

The Special Committee has obtained two MORE
Dan Primack - Apr 9, 2013 12:15 PM ET
Posted in: Blackstone Group, Carl Icahn, Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners, Southeastern Asset Management
Michael Dell lays out his plan

Michael Dell tells Dell employees what may come next.

FORTUNE -- Last month I was critical of Michael Dell for not explaining his plans for a privately-held Dell Inc. (DELL), were he and Silver Lake to successfully purchase the company. We got a bit more insight from last Friday's proxy statement, but today the CEO sent a memo to all company employees that was more specific.

Here is the part of the MORE
Dan Primack - Apr 1, 2013 4:43 PM ET
Posted in: Blackstone Group, Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners
Dell: We've got 99 problems but the bid ain't one

Dell tells shareholders that it extracted a higher price from Silver Lake... and also that it's got big problems.

FORTUNE -- Dell Inc. (DELL) today filed a proxy statement, detailing the process leading up its its $24.4 billion buyout proposal from CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. The proxy also includes details from the company's recent "go-shop" period, which resulted in nonbinding indications of interest from The MORE
Dan Primack - Mar 29, 2013 4:21 PM ET
Posted in: Blackstone Group, Carl Icahn, Dell, Michael Dell, Private Equity, Silver Lake Partners
6 questions about the Dell deal

Dell auction remains punctuated by question marks.

FORTUNE -- I spent much of yesterday working on Dell (what else?), but woke up with more questions than answers. So my top six are below. Oh, and for the sake of clarity, I'm now just going to refer to Michael Dell as "Michael" -- since writing intelligibly about both him and his eponymous company has become a bit confusing.

1. Why didn't Blackstone call Michael Dell? There MORE
Dan Primack - Mar 26, 2013 10:18 AM ET
Posted in: Blackstone Group, Carl Icahn, Dell, Michael Dell, Silver Lake Partners

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